ABSTRACT

Taking into account the results of the previous chapter – i.e., that the concept of man is based on thinking in terms of a plane of transcendence – this chapter analyzes the results of such thinking for the concept of the animal as seen in the classical philosophies of Descartes, Kant, Heidegger or Levinas. Every theory based on the plane of transcendence includes a theory of immanence, but the latter is always shown from a point of view of already-established transcendence, that is negatively and falsely. This way, the animal, as “immanent” in opposition to the “transcendent” or “transcending” human, is understood as lacking something (reason, ethics, etc.) rather than by its positive traits. The chapter also includes a discussion of how rights-based and abolitionist thinkers such as Regan, Francione, Donaldson and Kymlicka, and MacCormack inadvertently follow the line of thinking that presents a “false” vision of immanence.